Regional Carrier Ends East Coast Service
Two months ago, ANN's Paul Plack
spoke with Big Sky Airlines President Fred DeLeeuw on the Aero News
Special Feature. He was excited to be partnering with Delta on
routes in the northeast.
Among its other routes, Big Sky would fly between the new
Plattsburgh International Airport in upstate New York and Boston.
Those flights were being dropped by CommuteAir, a regional
partnered with Continental, and Big Sky was taking over the routes
and buying the Beech 1900D turboprops used by CommuteAir.
Big Sky, In Better Times. Click Here To Listen
Fast-forward two months. On Wednesday, Big Sky informed the
Department of Transportation it will drop 86 total daily east coast
flights -- many subsidized by the DOT. The department's Essential
Air Service program was set up to maintain flights that didn't
pencil-out for the major airlines after deregulation in the
'70s.
In an official statement, DeLeeuw blamed "...a combination of
unusually bad weather, disappointing revenue and record high fuel
prices." In its notice to DOT, the airline cited, "...enormous
unsustainable financial losses" for the decision.
The move will cost 140 employees their jobs when the routes are
dropped on January 7. But if ending such a large portion of its
service wasn't bad enough... the really bad news for Big Sky is DOT
will force the carrier to forfeit its more profitable Essential Air
Service routes in the western US as a penalty for abandoning the
routes in the east.
And that's a move Big Sky may not be able to survive.
On Friday, Big Sky owner MAIR Holdings announced it will
liquidate the airline -- adding impetus to DeLeeuw's lament earlier
this week, that Big Sky could be out of business within 60
days.
"This is a very sad day for Big Sky
Airlines," Deleeuw told KTVQ-2 this week. "This is causing a lot of
stress for our people. We could soon effectively go out of business
entirely."
For the moment, Big Sky will continue operating the western EAS
routes, but only until another airline steps in to take over.
Deleeuw said he's been in contact with other possible carriers to
take over the airline, but wouldn't provide details.
KTVQ spoke with Great Lakes Aviation, which has expressed
interest in taking over Big Sky's routes in Montana. That airline's
CEO reaffirmed Great Lakes is still very interested in Montana.